Give Everyone an “A”

September signifies “back to school” for many families in America and around the world. With that in mind, I want to share the book The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life. In it, authors Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander talk about a concept called “giving an A,” which suggests that we simply choose the perspective of seeing everyone, including ourselves as having great potential.

People rise (or fall) to our level of expectation. Imagine what would happen if you gave an A to anyone and everyone —your spouse, children, students, employer, co-workers—even strangers.

Especially now, in the politically and racially polarized times we live in, it’s easy to fall into the unconscious habit of judging others for not living up to what we think they are capable of or how we feel they should act. We then end up labeling them as C’s, D’s or even F’s. But what if we viewed them through the eyes of the potential they do have? What if we gave them an A right from the beginning and treated them accordingly? What sorts of relationships would you have, and what types of results would you get?

One comment

Myriam

This is very profound. After some reflection, the way we grade people is maybe the way we grade ourselves. If you think everyone is a blessing, a gift that keeps on giving, then even your biggest critic or your enemy get an A too because without all these perspective how will we learn about ourselves? Now I know we can control our own perspective, but how can we digest what other’s think of us to benefit us?